


What Flies Without Wings?

by Lucy_Claire



Category: Star Trek, Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Hogwarts, Hogwarts AU, M/M, Prompt Fill, Ravenclaw!Bones, Slytherin!Jim
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-12
Updated: 2017-02-12
Packaged: 2018-09-23 20:38:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,241
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9675212
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lucy_Claire/pseuds/Lucy_Claire
Summary: Ravenclaw Seventh Year, Leonard McCoy gets locked outside his common room in the middle of the night.Giving up on actually getting some sleep, he wanders around and runs into the only other person awake in the entire castle, Jim Kirk.This just might be the most interesting night of McCoy's life.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt: 'McKirk - Harry Potter AU' 
> 
>  
> 
> Don't forget to comment! (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧

Leonard was stuck outside his common room again. He had dosed off in the library for roughly four hours in the medicinal potions section and didn’t get the chance to sneak back home among the last of the Seventh Years.

“You know me,” he griped for the third time. “Just let me in already.”

The portrait that guarded the entrance to Ravenclaw tower simply ignored his request and repeated the goddamn riddle again. “What flies without wings?”

Leonard slapped a hand on his face and dragged it down, taking out his frustration by digging his nails into the skin of his cheeks. “I told you, I don’t know and I’m too tired to give it a proper thought. Let me in.”

“What flies without wings?” it repeated again.

“I don’t know, anything that’s been spelled with a levitation charm?” he suggested, glaring at the portrait through the gaps between his fingers.

“Wrong.”

“Leaves in the wind?”

“Wrong.”

“The wind itself?”

“Wrong.”

“Are we talking ‘flies’ in the literal sense or is it some kind of stupid wordplay with the whole ‘fight or flight’?” Leonard wracked his tired brains, trying to pull up any reasonable answer, a logical answer.

Oh, if Spock could see him now, that half-elven twat.

Ravenclaw was supposed to be for the smartest of the bunch, and there was no doubt that he was smart but he had been admitted in by the Sorting Hat more for his memory and quick-thinking rather than his critical thinking. Or his ability to solve shitty riddles, which was what everyone in this house had to be able to do to enter their tower, whereas everyone else had passwords.

“Is it man? Because we flee as in fly without wings?”

“Wrong,” said the portrait again.

He groaned loudly, his frustration echoing down either side of the hall.

“Wrong.”

Throwing his hands up, he stomped away from the bottom of the tower. “That’s it, I’m getting Flitwick.”

He walked all the way to the teacher’s quarters and knocked on Flitwick’s door. And knocked. And knocked. And knocked until his knuckles hurt and Snape cracked open the door to tell him to shut up.

“Where is he? I need the answer for the new riddle.”

“Not my concern.” And with that, he slammed the door shut.

It looked like he was sleeping on the floor tonight.

On his way back, he got lost. All the lights became dim and the staircases shifted and he ended up somewhere on the forth or fifth floor in no discernible direction. 

“Lumos.” The tip of his wand lit and made his path clearer. By the looks of the carpet and the architecture in this part of the castle, Leonard had ended up back in the library.

He heard something shuffle. Expectant fear made his heartbeat stutter.

The shuffling got closer but he couldn’t tell from what direction. He was about to spin around, casting _protego_ in every direction when something tapped him on the shoulder.

He screamed and jumped three feet into the air, arms flailing and flinging his hand behind him.

Hand came into the light, bruised and bound in a lousy bandage, and picked up his wand, raising the light coming out its end.

The first thing Leonard noticed was blue eyes. Bluer than Occamy feathers.

The second thing Leonard noticed was the smile underneath the eyes and the third thing was the green of the Slytherin robes.

James Tiberius Kirk, prefect and captain of the Slytherin Quidditch team and all-round accident-prone mess. He had seen him a good handful of times being carried into the hospital wing by other students, or sometimes Spock of all people, while he was getting first-hand healer knowledge from Madam Pomfrey. 

“You look a little lost,” Kirk said smugly.

Snapping out of whatever it was, Leonard snatched back his wand. “What are you doing out here?”

“Should be asking you that,” Kirk replied calmly, clasping his hands behind his back and walking around him in a circle, like he was sizing him up. “You weren’t sleepwalking, were you?”

“No, I got stuck outside my tower and — what’s that to you anyway? Why are you here?”

Kirk raised his hands defensively, still smiling, like he was on the verge of laughing. He had a great smile, white teeth and sharp incisors and his eyes, even in the dimness of the light around him were still so bright and blue —

God, he must have been a lot more tired than he thought.

Shaking his head, Leonard started moving in the opposite direction. “Forget it.”

“Whoa! Hey! Not so fast! Do you even know where you are going?”

Kirk caught up with him. Still shuffling among his robes. It actually looked like he was limping.

“I fell asleep in the library,” he said, taking out his wand to help light the way.

“Same,” Leonard grudgingly admitted.

“It’s pretty warm in there, and it doesn’t help that all the books are basically dusty tomes.”

They walked in silence for a while. Kirk’s shuffle went from unnerving to pitiable very quickly.

“What happened to your leg? And your hands for that matter?”

“Quidditch practice, the newbie knocked the bludger in my direction so, to dodge it, I fell off my broom.”

Leonard winced, hissing in sympathetic pain. “How far did you fall?”

“Six to eight feet?”

“Did you go to Madam Pomfrey?”

“By the time practice was over she was busy with a bunch of others, and they had it worse. I think the Hufflepuff chaser got his arm twisted in the weirdest angle.”

“You could have waited for her to get to you.”

“Nah, it’s okay. I’ll be fine.”

“You keep walking on that leg and you won’t be.”

Kirk looked at him out the corner of his eye. “What do you propose I do now then?”

Without a thought, Leonard linked his arm with Kirk and steered him towards the staircases. “Come with me.”

They caught the first shifting stairs down to the second floor and straight to the hospital wing. On their way, Kirk’s mouth didn’t stop moving. His questions started out as annoying, but became almost comforting. It made him feel like he hadn’t spoken to anyone in years.

“McCoy, what is that? Scottish?”

“Yes. Kirk, that’s Irish?”

“Yep.”

“What were doing in the library all this time?” he asked a bit abruptly.

“Looking up a way to expand on shield charms so they keep the bludgers away from me in all future practices.”

“Why play a game like Quidditch if you’re this much at risk?”

“Well, it’s like there are any options. What other sport am I supposed to play on here? Soccer?” Kirk laughed. “Besides, I like the thrill of it.”

Leonard eyed his robes. “How do you know what soccer is?”

“It’s only the most popular sport in the muggle world,” he said sarcastically. “I also played soccer as a kid.”

“In what world would a pure-blood play soccer?”

“I’m a half-blood, but okay.”

In his shock, Leonard almost dropped him. “Half-blood? I didn’t know they let your sort in Slytherin.”

Kirk’s smile vanished and got replaced with an uneasy grimace. “My sort?”

“You know what I mean.”

“I’m afraid I don’t.”

“Don’t make me explain it.”

“What, I thought Ravenclaws loved talking down to everyone about how much smarter they are than the rest of us.”

Okay, now he was feeling bad for offending a Slytherin. What has the world come to.

Leonard ushered Kirk inside the hospital wing, set him on one of the beds and scoured some supplies, lotions and potions. He dragged a stool over to Kirk’s bedside and motioned for him to show him his leg and his hand.

Kirk’s knuckles had been badly bruised but the bandaging around his hand was even worse. His was mostly fine but judging from the loud yelp he gave out when Leonard moved his foot side to side, he had sprained his ankle.

“I’m guessing you landed on your first with your legs stuck out to the side.”

“Yep,” he said hoarsely, face pink with pain.

“Here.” Leonard offered his hand out for Kirk’s. 

Kirk regarded him skeptically. “Why are you helping me?”

“Because I’ve got nothing better to do and I figured I might as well sleep in here and help you while I’m at it.” 

“Sure.”

Leonard rubbed the healing salve on Kirk’s ankle and properly wrapped it. It should heal within two days.

He held out his hand for Kirk’s again. “Are you going to let me help with that or what?”

Kirk moved his hand further away, tentatively running his fingers over the purple bruises along the back of his hand. “How do you know what soccer is?”

“My grandfather’s a muggle, I spent a lot of time with him and my grandma growing up and he had me play with the other muggle boys.”

“I see.”

Kirk gave him his hand. Leonard got to gingerly rubbing the numbing potion all over his fingers, the back of his hands and his swollen knuckles. 

 Time slowed down to a crawl as they sat there, the whole castle so quiet you could hear a pin drop, moonlight pooling in from the windows above the beds, Leonard’s fingertips massaging Kirk’s calloused skin.

Kirk’s intense blue eyes watched him, his face unreadable. Leonard felt himself suddenly get very hot under the collar.

“Wanna do my back while you’re at it?” Kirk suggested.

Snapping out of his daze, Leonard dropped Kirk’s hand and coughed, clearing his throat. He busied himself cutting up the bandages and getting out the last needed potion.

Kirk leaned back on his elbows and lifted his unhurt leg, shaking it side to side lazily, his heavy gaze still on Leonard, the moonlight and shadows framing his eyes. “So, how come this is the first time I’ve ever seen you?”

“Maybe it’s because you’re too caught up in whatever it is you Slytherins do to notice anything else,” Leonard snapped, even more flustered than he was before. “What’s your activity schedule like? Sacrifice chickens on Sunday, mail fanmail to Death Eaters in Azkaban on Monday, torture first-year Hufflepuffs on Tuesday?”

“Don’t forget water-logging muggle-borns on Wednesdays and throttling half-blood scum like me on Thursdays,” Kirk added, smirking bitterly. “Seriously though, what’s your damage? What did we ever do?”

“It’s not you specifically, it’s what you stand for.”

“Which is?” 

“Exclusivity, blood-purity, nepotism, ambition — want me to keep going?”

“Wow, how dare us want to be among like-minded people with similar values, history and the ability to help each other or our children out and you’re knocking ambition, really? That’s why we’re your main competition in the highest house grades.”

“It has nothing to do with Snape’s favoritism?”

“Snape’s a twat, but we don’t get all our grades or points from him and you know that.”

Leonard huffed, wrapping Kirk’s hand up. “Alright, you got me there. Though I didn’t think any of you would go against your dear leader.”

“Oh, please. Most of us can’t stand that greaseball. We may stand with our own but that doesn’t mean we have to like them.”

“How noble.”

Kirk squinted at him. “Tell me, if all you Ravenclaws are so clever, how did you forget your password?”

“I told you, it’s not a password, it’s a riddle. And what’s with your sudden hangup about me being a Ravenclaw?”

“Just mirroring whatever hangups you have about Slytherins.”

“No hangups required, you’re all detestable. I’ve never met one of you that didn’t rattle my bones.”

“I’d rattle a lot more than just your bones if you’d let me,” he said coyly.

Leonard sat back, wiping his hand with a towel. “You threatening to hit me?”

“Sure, if you’re into that.”

Oh, God, he was flirting with him.

Leonard poured some of the healing elixir and shoved it into Kirk’s good hand. “Drink this and shut up.”

“Aww, did that _rattle your bones?_ ”

“Stop.”

“Stop what? Rattling your bones?”

“Stop saying that?”

“Which part? The rattling or the bones?”

“Would you shut up?”

“That’s not the conclusive answer I need to figure out what’s rattling you so bad.”

“Quit it with that word.”

“Which one?” Kirk surged up, catching Leonard by the front of his robes, leaning in very close. “Rattle?” he breathed. “Or bones?”

Leonard wanted to strangle him with stupid green tie.

Leaving him speechless, Kirk fell back on his pillows and innocently drank his healing elixir, gagging only once after he swallowed it.

“So, I didn’t get your name,” Jim said.

“You’re definitely not getting it now.”

“That’s fine, if you want me to keep calling you Mr. Rattles,” he said. “Or Bones.”

“Please shut up.”

“Yeah, unless I’m sleeping, I need to be talking.”

“Why?”

“I’m a very anxious person, so the only way I can filter all of that shit out is to talk and talk and talk.”

“Huh.”

Leonard leaned back in his seat and regarded Kirk, trying to look at him beyond his green-lined robes.

So far, this guy seemed to have a good sense of humor, was agreeable, wasn’t hostile or a purist or anything he figured a Slytherin would be. One would almost figure he was a Hufflepuff. 

“You’d look better in gold,” he said mindlessly.

Kirk raised an eyebrow. “Wow, was that a compliment?”

“It’s just an observation.”

“Whatever you say, Bones.”

“Is that what you’re going to call me now?”

“Unless you give me your name?”

“Why? So you can name a voodoo doll after me?”

Kirk cracked up. “What urban legends do you guys swap about us up in your busy buzzard nest?”

“First, our symbol is an eagle —”

“Yet the house is Ravenclaw.”

Leonard ignored him. “Second, we don’t swap or gossip or anything.”

“Then explain what your damage is? I guarantee you a lot of us are nice, most of us actually befriend Hufflepuffs, and it’s not our fault all of Gryffindor has a chip on its shoulder.”

“True,” Leonard agreed, loosening his tie. “I don’t know, I guess it’s less ‘damage’ and more…of a general assumption.”

“Well, you know what they say about assuming, it just makes an ass out of U and Me.”

He couldn’t help the sudden laugh that burst out of him, in his attempt to smother it he let out a loud splutter of a cough. “That’s terrible.”

“It’s a cliche really.”

Leonard managed a small smile. He wasn’t so bad.

“So, since we’re stuck here. Tell me about yourself.”

“Why?”

Kirk lied back on his pillows, arms folded behind his head. “Because I’m bored and you’re way too cranky to not me hauling some serious baggage.”

“No baggage, just tired and itching to get out of this castle.”

“Miss the Internet, huh?”

“ _God_ , you have no idea.”

They laughed, the sound ringing throughout the wing.

“You want to be a healer?”

Leonard nodded. “Surgeon is the specific term, but since that doesn’t exist here then I’m going to be an emergency room healer or diagnostician since I’m pretty quick on my feet and I’ve got steady hands.”

Kirk’s eyes immediately flit to Leonard’s right hand, the one that had been massaging his.

“What are you aiming for?”

“Getting drafted for a professional Quidditch team and climbing my way to being captain.”

“Guess I better give you my number so I can be on-call the next time a bludger knocks you off your broom.”

“Guess you should.”

The tension eased up and the position of the moonlight changed as the moon outside rose higher up during the duration of their mindless conversation.

They talked about books, teachers, in-class accidents, mispronounced spells, Leonard’s interest in medicine, Kirk’s ambition to be a professional sportsman and own his own team by the time he was forty-five and their pets, Leonard’s small owl Joanna and Kirk’s big fluffy  forest cat Tribbles.

 “I should be getting back to the dungeons,” Kirk yawned.

“Can’t we just stay here? You’re already in a bed.”

“Trust me, any other time I would take your offer, but I’m a prefect, I need to be there incase the First Years need something.”

“Yeah, alright.  I’ll take you back.”

Leonard picked Kirk up, slung his arm over his shoulder and helped him limp out of the hospital wing. 

They stopped in the middle of the second floor, to the left and down a stairwell was the Slytherin dungeons and to the right and up the slope was Ravenclaw tower.

Leonard awkwardly rubbed the back of his neck. He didn’t know what to say to him now, especially since he got to know him out of nowhere and was questioning his opinion on everything, even Slytherins. 

“You sure you don’t want me to walk you? It’s not like I can get into my common room.”

Kirk put a hand on his arm, not to steady himself, just to touch. “What was the riddle?”

“Some stupid vague shit like ‘what flies without wings?’.”

Kirk nodded, biting his bottom lip and looking up at him from under his dark lashes, his eyes still so blue even in the dim light. “It really does fly when you’re having fun.”

“Yeah, we had fun —” he paused, stunned. “What was that?”

“Time really flies when you’re having fun?” Kirk repeated, feigning innocence.

Leonard sword, stomping his foot. “Sonovabitch! Time. Time flies without wings. Jesus H. Christ on a unicycle, why didn’t I think of that?”

Kirk laughed at him, his eyes squinting, wrinkles appearing at their corners. It was the happiest sound Leonard had ever heard. “Guess you’re more of a doer than a thinker.”

“Maybe.” Leonard put a hand on the one on his arm. “Thanks for answering that for me, Kirk.”

“Thanks for patching me up, Bones,” he said. “And call me Jim.”

“My name is Leonard.”

Kirk — Jim shrugged. “Eh, I like Bones better.”

“I take it there’s no changing your mind?”

“Nah.”

Leonard had been called worse, and his name was a grouchy old man’s name to begin with, so he could deal with Bones.

He had a feeling that he would put up with anything from James Kirk.

“I’ll see you again right?” Kirk asked almost bashfully. “You’re not going to ghost me and pretend you never interacted with me, are you?”

“Does that happen a lot?”

“Once or twice,” he admitted.

“I think apart from Christine Chapel you could now count as my only other friend in this dusty castle, so yeah, you’ll see me a lot.”

“Good, because I’m going to crash in your common room a lot if all it takes is a riddle.”

That should have been worrying, that a Slytherin could just waltz into his room, but he found that he didn’t mind.

They both looked at their hands atop his arm and met each other’s eyes. Jim moved in first, pressing a tentative kiss to Leonard’s mouth. “Good night, Bones.”

“Good night, Jim.”

Jim slid his hand down Leonard’s arm, briefly held his hand and backed way to hobble down to his common room. Leonard waited till he was out of sight and headed back home.

“Time!” he shouted at the portrait before it could ask him that damned riddle again and it swung to let him in.

Once he fell back on his bed, he pressed two fingers to his lips — the hand that held Jim’s — and exhaled, peaceful for the first time in ages. 

 

**Author's Note:**

> Come talk to me on [**Tumblr**](http://lucyclairedelune.tumblr.com)!
> 
>  
> 
> Don't forget to comment! (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧*:･ﾟ✧


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